Disabling 2014 ECO Switch

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TCM75

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2015 LR4 Lux with 24000 miles. STop Star worked for about two days a few years back, and has not worked since. About 6 months ago, our eco warning light came on and has mostly stayed on (90%) of the time. It's due for it's yearly oil change, so I'll ask the dealer in a few weeks.

Didn't like the few days we spent with stop/start. Light is annoying, but not as annoying as the stop/start. For those who think it is "smooth", you obviously have not driven a properly calibrated stop/start system.

Yeah, it's terrible and IMO, that .5 second delay is a huge safety issue. Obviously the JLR attorneys never have been in stop-and-go traffic or have had to make a left turn across oncoming traffic...

In any case, my 2015 LR4 was doing almost exactly what you describe. It had been a long time that the system totally stopped working. No ECO, no warning light...life was good. Even at a past service, my SA told me "Hey do you know your Eco start is not working? You don't want us to fix that, do you?...Because most people hate it".

Then, more recently it started doing what you describe; the light would come on and then go out randomly but it was on most of the time. My gut told me it was probably the "motorcycle battery" that needed replacing but I was torn because if it was a more major issue, I am still under warranty coverage. So, I made the appointment and it ended up taking 4 days (which I was stuck with a Disco Sport!) to replace the battery and "recalibrate" the system. This entailed them putting ~80 miles on my LR, returning it with 8 miles to empty, and me making a scene in their lobby...totally not me, but if anyone can get my blood boiling it's my local LR dealership.

Now, its like the Eco start/stop is making up for lost time; it's really aggressive (like most Eco people I know, lol) and shuts down the engine as soon as I come to a stop. A bit ridiculous.


My advice, especially if you are more okay with the warning light than the Eco start/stop, is to just remove your "motorcycle battery" and do not replace it.
 

DavidSG

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Yeah - not to pile on but totally agree on the safety issue. Made me very hesitant on a few left turns - found myself waiting for larger gaps than I normally would (I was in the process of giving it a chance). I know the counter is to just lift off the brake a half second earlier, but that doesn't really work as your brain is making quick judgment decisions on when to go in those situations. My only other experience with these stop-start systems is on manual transmission BMW's where the engine kicks on when you depress the clutch (with no sudden jolt) - so from a lag (or no-lag) standpoint, that works much better.

My wife (who will be the primary driver of this car) doesn't seem to mind it after very limited use but I think I'll disconnect the battery anyway just for that safety reason alone.
 

blacktie

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Spoke with my mechanic today and he said that when towing, the ECO mode should be shut down... so maybe if we hook a "special" tow light harness in there it would bypass the ECO setting and turn the light off? any thoughts on this solution?
 

blacktie

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can anyone verify eco mode disabled when towing, and if so, is it when you hook up the trailer harness?
 

Michael Gain

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Not sure to be honest. On my to-do list is removing each of these fusible links and reinstalling the block (sans links) to see if that removes start stop without throwing a light. Since the feature did not work on my wife's LR4, I'm guessing that one of these burned out.

Screenshot_20200819-075513.jpg
 

Waterndirt

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Not sure to be honest. On my to-do list is removing each of these fusible links and reinstalling the block (sans links) to see if that removes start stop without throwing a light. Since the feature did not work on my wife's LR4, I'm guessing that one of these burned out.

View attachment 11480
I've removed each one of the those individually and it threw an amber light or rendered the truck inoperable.
 

blacktie

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We need someone to do some homework when they are towing... sounds promising.
 

jlglr4

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I’ll throw in my experience. Bought my 2016 LR4 used from a GM dealer. When I picked it up, the eco unavailable warning light was on. They said it was the battery and bought a new one from JLR. That fixed the light, but the start/stop still didn’t work - and hasn’t since. No start/stop, and no light.

I haven’t messed with it because I don’t want it to start working, but I remember reading that the battery management system (BMS) needs to be reset sometimes when the battery dies. I suspect the GM dealer didn’t do anything other than stick a new battery in and check that the light went off, so maybe there’s something to do with the BMS that can be used to disable the start/stop.
 

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